The Rise of Mona Lisa
by thatpyroisaspy
Summary: Lisa Armstrong. Homeless, hungry and alone, gets kidnapped by Shredder's men and is transformed into a mutant. Her life seemed to only have gotten worse but she'll soon find that this unfortunate event will lead to a lighter path as she meets more people like her and befriend them.
1. It Only gets Worse

It was a bright and sunny morning in New York City. People in their cars were hustling and bustling trying to get where they want to go. Others were repairing the restaurants, homes and buildings that the Kraang destroyed during the invasion. It has been months since then and although the people have made remarkable progress, the city has been overrun with crime and poverty even more so then it has before. From the Purple Dragons mugging people, robbing houses and banks to Shredder concocting his dark plans in which the poor people of New York were none the wisers to. Although some people have managed to continue their lives with kids going to school and adults working at their 5 to 9 jobs, others unfortunately didn't have that loyalty.

On the sidewalk of the Bronx was a produce store with stands containing fresh oranges, apples, bananas and other produce placed left side of the store entrance. The thin, elderly manager of the store was outside brooming the proximity of his store. A hooded, feminine figure walked up the produce stand and picked up an orange. The thin figure looked to see to the man's back was turned. She put the orange in the front pocket of her hoodie and continued to pilfer the rest of the produce then, without noticing the girl brushed her hand past an apple, causing it to fall on the floor. The manager picked up the noise and turned around to see the hooded person looting with loaded pockets.

"Hey, Put those back!" the elderly store owner yelled. On cue the figure ran off

"STOP, THIEF!" the old man yelled as loud as he can pointing at the fleeing figure. Two police, who were sitting at a outside table near a coffee shop heard the man's cry and saw a running hooded person.

"Wha-HEY, come back!' yelled the lean, black officer, him and his more pudgy, white partner got up from their seats to chase after the young woman, the larger officer turning back to the table to quickly finish off his coffee and running back to catch up to the chase. The hooded woman ran as fast as she could with pockets full of apples and oranges, panting loudly as she tried to escape the cops, she looked behind her to see the black officer on her tail with his larger partner, catching up surprisingly fast despite his weight. The hooded girl made a quick u-turn into an alley. The police followed her to see that she has disappeared without a trace.

"What the…*pant* where did *pant* she go?" said the black officer

"I…*wheeze* don't know, it's a dead *whew* end, theirs no inkling on where she went, it's like she disappeared" said the heavier officer

"Man…this better not be some alien or mutant thing" said the black officer. "Well, I say we don't stick around and find out" added the white officer.

The two police walked out of the alley way confused. Above them, Peering out of a cracked window of an abandoned apartment room was the hooded girl. She walked away from the window and took off her hood. She looked to be about sixteen years of age and was of African descent with light brown skin, clean green eyes and curly hair that poofed in a round shape like a mini afro. She walked to the table in the middle of the run down kitchen, stepping on the dozens of eviction notices and health violation papers that littered the floors. She sat in the chair and emptied her pockets of the stolen goods. She grabbed two apples and bit into them with ferocity, a clear look of hunger in her eyes, she ate as fast as she can stopping only to cough from the amount she was putting in her maw

"_God, I'm…so hungry" _The girl thought to herself, swallowing the chewed up apples and moving on to peel the three oranges she stole. _"I'm always hungry I haven't had a decent meal since that red haired girl and her dad was giving out soup and that was almost a month ago. Forcing myself to scavenge through the garbage and steal food from people and it's all because of those stupid aliens!" _The mocha colored girl finished off her oranges and cupped her face in her hands. Breaking her train of thought

"I hate my life" she said out loud.

The homeless girl slumped back in her chair, her stomach painfully growled from the lack of proper food. She pulled up her sweater to see that her ribcage was starting to poke out, a physical memento of the lack of food she ate. Her skin stained with dirt due to the lack of cleaning she wasn't able to do since the lack of running water in her abandoned, roach and rat infested home. "Ugh…What are you going to do with yourself Lisa?" she questioned herself. Lisa got up from her chair and slumped herself on the dirty mattress that was set on the floor with equally dirty pillows and newspapers laid in front of it.

As she laid on her mattress she decided to pick up one of the newspapers. The newspaper was a fairly recent one, it only being two days old. She looked at the front of the newspaper and saw the headline.

"**New York's Monster Hero, Muckman saves the day again!" **The headline reads with a photograph of the literal garbage man saving an unconscious man and a child from a burning building. Lisa remembers when that happened. She actually saw Muckman running into her alley the same night that he saved those people. Talking to himself and speaking the name "Joe" leading her to believe that he had schizophrenia are something. She turned the page to read another part of the paper, one that ticked her off.

"**New York's number of homeless persons increase and citizens concerned with the rising problem"**

"Problem!?" Lisa threw the paper with anger indirectly scaring a rat, causing it to hiss at her. "Is that what people really see me and other folks in my status? A problem? Man, way to be considerate" Lisa angrily huffed and slumped back on the mattress. She closed her eyes just wanting to sleep the hunger and anger away.

*SLAM*

Out of no where a loud noise brings Lisa to her feet. She looked nervously to her door, hearing mumbled arguing between two people coming from the far left of the hallway

"What the heck…why are there people breaking into my apartment building?" she slowly walked up to her door and pressed her ear to the door to listen into the conversation outside the hallway.

"I mean, isn't Shredder making a whole army of freaks? Why can't he send some brainwashed cronies to do this kind of dirty work?" said a eccentric, kind of squeaky voice.

"It's not big deal comrade, much easier then stealing chemicals, all we got to do is take weak and unsuspecting peoples and bring them back to lab" said the deep accent heavy voice

"Lab?…" Lisa questioned to herself quietly in fear. Whoever these men are they must be doing horrible things to people

"Let's check this place first." the more English friendly voice said right in front of Lisa's door, a cold chill ran down her spine as the door knob jiggled furiously. Lisa looked frantically and ran into the broom closet and closed it to hide from the kidnappers.

"Allow me." the deeper voice said as the door was thrown off it's hinges in a single hit. Lisa peered through the closet's keyhole to see that the two figures are mutants. A mutant rhino and pig to be exact. The Russian sounding Rhino man and the thinner, punk hog searched Lisa's small apartment.

"Theirs no one here play cousin, what were we expecting from a place that was abandoned since the Kraang invasion?" Zeck said with crossed arms. Rocksteady just shook his head

"Nyet, look at table comrade, it is peels of the orange and cores of the apple and they are fresh" Rocksteady said pointing at Lisa's scraps. Zeck or Bebop as he's known by some looked over sniffing them with his acute snout, his direction however was brought to something else.

"UGH, Pew you what is that nasty stank!?" Zeck said grabbing his snout. "It's smells like a player hasn't taken a shower in months, wait…*sniff* *snort* two months to be exact…and it's coming from that closet"

Lisa gasped quietly seeing Bebop walking towards the closet, she backed away from the keyhole and onto the wall, she looked to her right to see a rusty, golf club left behind by someone who used to live in the apartment. She grabbed it and slowly inched towards the door to strike at the mutant. Zeck opened the door quickly prompting Lisa to strike him, the mutant warthog grabbed the club before it could hit him, Lisa gasped.

"Nice try sweetie pie" Zeck taunted. He pulled Lisa out of the closet and threw her onto the floor, the defenseless Lisa laid on the floor with the mutant duo looking down on her with twisted grins. Panicking, Lisa went for the opening where the door used to be but Rocksteady grabbed her by the foot and lifted her up.

"AH, LET ME GO YOU FREAK!" Lisa yelled as she flailed to escape from the Russian rhino's grasp.

"Go ahead, keep up with the fighting, it amuses me!" Rocksteady said as Bebop placed a rag over Lisa's mouth her screams muffled as a strange scent wafted through her nostrils, her eyes felt heavier as she drifted into an unconscious state.

Bebop smiled. "Sweet dreams, heh, heh, heh"


	2. A New Face

Lisa woke up groggily to find that she has been put in the back of a moving van. Her arms and legs tied together with ropes, she tried screaming for help but she was muted by a piece of duct tape plastered on her mouth. Lisa was sweating profusely terrified to think what these mutants might do to her.

"_Oh god, oh god…what are they going to do to me!? Their bringing me to a lab to do something to me, are they going to turn me into a freak to!?" _Lisa's mind was in a flurry. All she could do was lay on the van floor constricted by her bindings. Then the van came to a screeching halt, causing Lisa to be thrown further in the back and hit her head. "_Ow…These freaks can't drive to save their lives"._

"So, ya think Shredder is going to be happy with who we brought?" Bebop questioned with discontent in his voice

"Happy with dirty, homeless girl? I don't think so," replied Rocksteady

"Well yeah, but She'll probably be way more fresh once she's-"

"Shhh!" Rocksteady silenced his partner. He opened the van's back door with a smile on his face. Lisa backed away further despite knowing very well that their was no where to escape, her sweat continued to drop as the thin warthog climbed into the van, grabbed her by the collar of her dirty sweater and carried her over his shoulder. Lisa tried to yell through her tape.

"WHOA, hey! Watch your mouth. Your language is so bad I can hear it over the tape!" Zeck said as he and Rocksteady walked into the backdoor of the abandoned church. Lisa could hear the noises of animals and people moaning and electrical whirring of machines. Lisa looked behind her to see a giant mutant fly tinkering with a array of computers. Lisa screamed through her tape.

"Yeah I know girl, that's my first reaction to ole' stinkbug to." Zeck said as he placed Lisa on the floor he untied the rope binding her legs and quickly removed the duct tape from her mouth.

"OUCH!" screamed Lisa she looked up in front of her to see a gigantic machine filled with mutagen on the platform she was standing on was the multitude of computers connected to it and other mutants practically staring down at her including the mutant fly she previously saw, a mutant fish with mechanical legs, a huge almost undead looking wolf and a humanoid tiger with an eye patch and multiple firearms in his holsters.

"Who, Who you people, Who do you think you are kidnapping people!? You freaks!" Lisa yelled with a combination of fear and anger. She looked where she heard the sound of metal clanging to be greeted with the mutant fish.

"You better hold your tongue little girl, cause soon you'll be a freak just like us" the fish said in a Spanish accent as he grabbed Lisa's face with his cold claws he pulled his face closer to hers as he licked his lips, Lisa spat in his eye causing him to let go.

"AH! WHY YOU LITTLE-"

"XEVER, ENOUGH!" a loud booming voice commanded Xever, causing him to freeze with a look of fear in his face and his fist in the air. Xever backed away. footsteps became louder as they figure came out of the darkness to reveal a man clad in blades and armor.

"*Gasp* Your…that guy, the…the Shredder! The guy who's always riding around New York…what are going to do to me?" Lisa said with genuine fear. The man only known as The Shredder just stared at her.

"Stockman" Shredder broke the silence, addressing the mutant scientist. "Commence the mutation, now!"

"NO PLEASE DON'T!" Lisa begged the scientist.

Despite her cries, Stockman went to his computer and dialed in numbers. The screen showed two silhouettes of a human woman and a large lizard, mechanical claws grabbed a canister of orange liquid and injected it into the vat turning the contents orange. Tiger Claw grabbed her by her bonded hands and pushed her towards.

"NO NO!" Lisa screamed. The large wolf standing besides Shredder just laughed at her cries.

"A Komodo Dragon? Nice choice stinkbug." Rahzar addressed to Stockman. "Seeing the mutations happen are always my favorite part, Hehehehehe"

"PLEASE DON'T DO THIS, I'LL DO ANYTHING!" Lisa pleaded dragging her feet and trying to fight back the tiger man that was pushing her to her demise.

"You don't have anything to give me, you and this entire, worthless city will be more use to me once your mutated and in my control" said Shredder with cruelty in his voice. with a final push, Lisa was pushed into the vat of mutagen.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

*Splash* Lisa fell into the mutagen vat and instantly started to feel the worst pain she has ever felt. Her lungs filled with it as every fiber of her being felt as if it was being slowly stretched and torn in half one by one. Her skin felt as if it was melting off , her bones were being restructured, her teeth tore her gums apart as they grew sharper and more pointed and her hair fell off her scalp in clumps. . She saw nothing but green and her body was nothing but a black silhouette. Lisa could only scream as her the mutagen completely reformed her body inside and out, her DNA being spliced with that of a carnivorous reptile.

Then what felt like an eternity, the bottom of the machine opened and spilled all of its contents. Lisa dropped like a stone on the hard surface, she laid on top of the puddle of mutagen barely having any energy, she felt as if there was a fire raging beneath her skin. She opened her eyes to see that everything she saw was in a slightly yellow tint, she looked down to see her once soft, dark skinned hands were replaced with scaly green ones with sharp yellow claws, Lisa gasped and observed the rest of her body, her hoodie sweatshirt has dissolved slightly showing off her midriff. It also had green scaly skin on her sides and her back with a yellow under belly. The rest of her sweatshirt including the hood and her black pants have fused onto her body turning into black scaly skin. Lisa hyperventilated deeper and faster as she grabbed and pressed onto her now hairless scalp, she fell to her knees and screamed with despair.

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

"Welcome to the family" Shredder said as he and his mutant cronies looked down at the distraught, now mutated girl.


	3. Allies in Odd Places

"Wake up…Wake up". Lisa pounded the sides of her cranium. "Come one girl, focus it's all just a dream…a nightmare" she said trying to reassure herself. She looked up and saw the giant tiger mutant looking down on her. She jumped and landed on her back with her new long tail literally between her legs.

"I can assure you little reptile, this is no dream. Now…come with me." Tiger Claw spoke with little emotion. Lisa had conflicting emotions of fear and anger. She wanted to hit him and hard as she can and run away. But she knew better, Lisa was afraid to think what he, the other mutants or The Shredder would do to her is she didn't do what they say. She complied and got up her head looking down and her eyes closed. She walked towards the exit with Tiger Claws large clawed hand locked on her shoulder.

Lisa was lead to a huge laboratory with technology that she recognized as Kraang tech. People who have been mutated into workers still retained bits and pieces of things they saw Dimension X. so seeing this technology really didn't help her feel any better. She was brought further into the lab that had multiple cages and tanks containing more mutants. Lisa looked at some of the cages she passed. One had a mutant camel wearing Arab attire who was angrily banging on the wall of his cubical prison yelling something in his native language. The cage facing the left of his was a see through cube like his, containing a giant leech-like creature with a giant gaping mouth of sharp teeth. Hunched over and walking back and forth. One container that caught Lisa's attention was one filled with tropical plants, trees and a heating lamp hanging from the ceiling of it. From the foliage came a mutant snake woman with armor fused onto her chest and smaller snakes for hands, she went up to the front wall of her containment and hissed at Lisa causing her to avert her gaze. However, Lisa looked back to see Shredder has stopped at the cage containing the snake woman to put his hand on the wall.

"Get in." Tiger Claw demanded. Lisa was brought back from her gaze and slowly walked into her cell. But then was forcefully kicked into it by Xever.

"That's for spitting in my eye you little Puta!" Xever said as he spat in her general direction and locked the cell door. Him and the others walked away leaving Lisa alone in her new cubicle home. Lisa started to pound and kick at the walls of her prison. She knew she couldn't get out but she was so angry and afraid that she didn't know what to do besides lash out. Having quickly exhausting all of her energy she crawled to the corner of her prison and buried her head in her knees. Then, she did something she hasn't done in a very long time, she started to cry. She closed her eyes as tight she muster and started to sob loudly. For the longest time she has never shed a tear. But Shredder and his team have completely broken her, inside and out. As she sat and cried, Lisa felt her face become very hot and even starting to sting.

"Ow ow ow ow…what the?" Lisa curled out of fetal position to see her tears hit the ground. She saw her tears have become green in color and they caused the ground to bubble with a visible vapor trail emitting off of it. Lisa gasped with wide eyes seeing that her tears have become extremely acidic. "I wonder…" she said as she gathered some spit and her throat, her mouth burned slightly as she spat out a wad on the floor, the shot of saliva caused the same action as her tears. It bubbled furiously as it burned a small hole through the floor. Lisa's observations of her mutant powers was interrupted by a loud buzzing noise, she looked to the door to see Baxter Stockman.

"AH!" Lisa screamed as she backed away in her corner. "Why are you doing this!?" Lisa yelled at the giant fly thoroughly. "why?…" she whispered fearfully.

"I had no choice" Stockman replied with his head down still flying in mid air. "I didn't want to do thizzzzz, honest". Lisa looked up at the mutant scientist with a curious gaze.

"Shredder has been mutating people that have joined hizzz side. Gang memberzzz, criminalzzz, crime bossezzzzz. He wantzzz to create a mutant army…but he said NOTHING about mutating innocent people, people who don't deserve the fate of being turned into a monster and brainwashed into hizzz control! I'm sorry you had to end up like thizzz, really I am…but the man is crazy, I have to do what he saidzzz or else." Lisa stared at Stockman intensely as she absorbed everything he said. The fear of the mutant fly started to slightly melt away as she stood up.

"I can't restore your human form…but the least I can do for you now, is get you out of here!" Stockman whispered.

"R-really?" Lisa said slowly walking towards the door of he prison. "But what about?-"

"No questionzzz, do you want to get out or not?" Lisa just nodded. "Now, I can't just open the door and let you free They'll become too suspicious, You have to make it look like you escaped." This gave Lisa an idea.

"Okay, stand back." Lisa warned Stockman. The fly scientist complied and flew back. Lisa hacked up as much saliva as she could muster causing the same burning feeling in her throat, then with puffed cheeks and a trails of green vapor peering from her nostrils, she spewed the contents of her mouth onto the door. The lock and everything else that was hit melted away in record time. Lisa ran out but stopped to looked back at the scientist.

"Go!" Stockman yelled pointing at the opened window on the ceiling of the laboratory. Lisa ran towards the open window, the mutated prisoners screaming and clapping for Lisa as she ran. As a mutant, Lisa has become considerably more agile. Her lightweight stature combined with the strength of a Komodo Dragon allowed her to climb on top the machine's tubes, flip to the walls and climb up to the ceiling of the window. As soon as Lisa climbed out of the church an alarm went off with red flashing lights peering out from the windows of the church. Lisa climbed down and ran as fast as she could. The front doors of the church were kicked open by Tiger Claw with Xever, Rahzar and an entire troop of foot soldiers behind him.

"Find the Reptile girl now!" Tiger Claw demanded, Xever and Rahzar ran off together as all the Footbots scattered in different directions. Lisa made good distance between her and the church, she ran with her new tail flailing up and down, her scaly hood of flesh was up concealing her reptilian face. The first thing Lisa noticed was that it was now nighttime meaning that she was kept their for a least a few hours. Lisa made a quick u-turn to an alleyway to hide from the citizens and the people hunting her down. Lisa panted loudly as she slowly slid down and sat on the cold floor. She looked to her left to pick up a large piece of a broken mirror. She looked at it to see her face. Her once flat, human face has stretched into a slight yet noticeable snout, it was green like most of her body (but seemed more of a yellow green due to Lisa's new perception) with large yellow eyes and long eyelashes, one of the few things she retained from her human form. Lisa then opened her mouth to see that her yellowed teeth have grown into sharper, equally yellow ones.

*BANG*

Lisa jumped at the sudden noise planning to spit at whatever one of Shredder's minions was coming. But she was relieved to see that it was just a black cat jumping off of one of the garbage cans. Lisa kicked a tin can in frustration as she starts to sob again.

"HEY, DON'T CRY!" yelled am loud, eccentric voice, causing Lisa to jump with fear. A shadowy, figure with a bird shaped head was perched on top of one of the small buildings. It suddenly jumped frantically flapping it's human arms and landing on right it's face. It stood up to reveal to be a mutant, having pigeon head and a human body wearing a green soldier helmet. Lisa screamed and punched the mutant straight in the face.

"OW! HEY!" the pigeon headed mutant cried, grabbing it's face in pain.

"Get AWAY from me!" Lisa yelled with a tire iron she received from the ground in hand. "I've had it up to here with freaks and monsters, You tell the rest of Shredder's mutant cronies that I am NOT going back! Lisa yelled furiously with more thick, acidic tears in her eyes. The pigeon man, shot up and looked at her with wide, crossed eyes.

"SH-SH-SHREDDER!? I'm not with the Shredder, honest and for truly!" The mutant pigeon said posing in a military salute. "I'm a good guy!"

Lisa lowered her weapon and started to consider the pigeon man's words, now that she thought about it, this mutant didn't sound, acted or even looked like anything a power hungry monster like The Shredder would even consider having on his side let alone send to find her. Lisa dropped the tire iron and went closer to the mutant pigeon. The pigeon looked at her and smiled.

"My name's Pigeon Pete by the way, what's yours!?" Pete said with his hand out in a friendly matter. Lisa nervously reached her hand out and eventually grabbed his and gently shook it.

"I-I-I'm Lisa."

Miles away from Lisa and Pete was Xever and Rahzar jumping on and off of the rooftops of several buildings and houses trying to hunt down the escaped mutant girl. Rahzar eventually stopped on all fours to sniff at the air to try and catch the scent. Xever nonchalantly walked to his side doing tricks with one of his switchblades in his hand.

"I can't believe Stockman allowed that dirty little girl to get away!" Xever said spinning his blade. "Can't we trust that worthless bug with anything?" Rahzar sniffed the air as his scaly friend ranted away. Then Rahzar winced from smelling something awful.

"I found her!" Rahzar said.

"Are you sure amigo?" Xever asked as he placed his knife away.

"Trust me, the smell of two months of no bathing and burning acid is a unmistakable one." Rahzar ran of as he spoke. "Let's show this little Puta, who's boss!" Xever said following Rahzar.

"Xever." Rahzar spoke as he ran right beside him.

"What?"

"What does "Puta" mean?"

Back at the alleyway. Despite how tough it was to do, Lisa Just got finished telling Pete of everything that just happened to her tonight. And Pete was absolutely devastated, more so then Lisa was at the moment.

"Dreadful, woeful, melancholy, other synonyms for sad, that's AWWWWFUL!" Pete screamed, waving his arms in the air. "I can't believe what you've been through!"

"I know, I'm having a hard time believing it myself, and now all of those people are after me…and the fly-man…Stickler I think his name was, said that he wants to make and army and that he has methods of…mind control." Lisa spoke slower and looked down. her arms crossed as she started to feel alone again but Pete frantically came up closer to her with his helmet practically falling off his head.

"DON'T WORRY!" Pete screamed, surprising Lisa. "Me and my friends are good guys, We'll protect you!" Pete said placing his hands on hips in a heroic stance.

"Ahhhh, how sweet." said a deep, raspy voice in a condescending matter. Lisa and Pete looked up at the top of the building on their left to see Xever and Rahzar. Lisa tried to run from the alley but the two mutant thugs flanked her. Causing her to run back to Pete's side.

"Don't think your getting off easy, girlie" Rahzar said with his claws out. "Your coming back to the lab with us and this time, Uncle Shreddie's going to make sure you behave!"

"No…**NO**!" Lisa screamed as her cheeks puffed up double their size. Lisa spewed a stream of acid right into the mutant wolf's face.

"**AAAAAAHHHHHH, MY EYES**!" Rahzar screamed in absolute anguish as he stumbled backwards. He fell on the floor, whimpering in pain.

"Honestly, what is with you and spitting in people's faces!?" Xever said as he rushed at Lisa with his switchblades in his hands, before he could strike at her Pete "flew" in front of her and quickly headbutted him causing both to flinch in pain. "Ugh! Worthless bird!"

"Asta La Vista fishy!" Pigeon Pete said with a smirk as he took out a egg with cracks and small strip of tape over it. He threw the egg onto the ground causing it to explode into a cloud of thick purple smoke.

"NO!" Growled Xever he jumped into the cloud and started to slash blindly with his blade. Once the smoke cleared he saw that both Lisa and Pete have disappeared. Xever started to twitch with anger, he dropped his blade and let out a word that practically half the city heard.

"**DAAAAAAAMN!"**


	4. Kindness is Foreign to Me

"COME ON, I'll bring you to my brothers!" Pete screamed with joy as he pulled Lisa by the hand and guided her through the maze of buildings. After almost an hour of running and even having to avoid some foot soldiers. Pete brought Lisa to New York's storage facility which was located near the docks. Pete opened the door and flew excitedly, Lisa nervously followed, she didn't know what to think, she felt grateful that Pigeon Pete was able to get her safe from Rahzar and Xever but she still felt like being alone, still distraught over her new undesirable form plus she didn't know if she was ready to handle new mutants at the moment.

"HEY GUYS! I BROUGHT SOMEONE WHO NEEDS OUR HELP!" Pete called out to his "brothers" as he referred them to.

"Yes, Pete we can hear you!" A slightly annoyed voice beckoned in the dark. The owner of the voice was a primape with long arms, a Kraang helmet and gauntlets which flew out of the darkness and in front of the two. Lisa gasped and fell backwards, she crawled backwards until she felt a wall stop her she looked back to see not a wall but a giant tortoise with a spiked yellow shell, blue skin, and a black mask. Lisa screamed and got to her feet. "Whoa, hey relax girlie, we're not going to hurt ya!" the tortoise said defensively.

*THUD*

Lisa jumped to her feet reacting to the loud slam. Right next to the floating ape was a giant alligator with pale, grey skin and a large smile stretching across his long snout.

"Leather Head! I'm trying to calm this girl down plus we are trying to hide, ya think you can keep it down." Slash said.

"Sorry, brother. I just wanted to see our new friend." Leather Head said smiling at Lisa. Lisa, though terrified was at least relieved that they mean no harm. And she thought the Alligator named Leather Head seemed polite enough.

"Gentleman, please give the poor girl some room to breath!" another voice yelled from the cluttered darkness of the room, the mutants complied with the voice's commands and moved away from the reptilian girl. A thin figure walked out of the darkness to reveal a tall and thin man wearing a brown suit &amp; tie with a tan shirt and fedora.

"Hello young lady. my name is Jack J. Kurtzman, Paranormal Investigator and Journalist for the New York Times." the older man said as he held out his hand for Lisa to shake. Lisa slowly held up her green, clawed hand and slowly shook it.

"Um…my name's L-Lisa, Lisa Armstrong."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Miss Armstrong. Now, I couldn't help but noticed that you're a bit reluctant to be here." Jack was able to read Lisa like a book. Lisa felt embarrassed and looked around the storage room. "But, I assure you, you have nothing to worry about. You can consider me and the Mighty Mutanimals here a protection program for mutants." Kurtzman said as he waved his hand towards the group of mutant animals.

"M-Mighty Mutanimals?" Lisa questioned with a confused look. "So…are you guys vigilantes like Muckman and that unknown Casey person?"

"Were more then that Lisa. Were the Mighty Mutanimals! YAAAAAAY!" Pigeon Pete said with his human arms flailing. The giant tortoise stepped closer to Lisa.

"I'm Slash, Kurtzman put me in charge as the leader." Slash said introducing himself. "That's Professor Rockwell, he's the brains of the group."

"Charmed I'm sure. Ooh, Ooh, Ooh!" Rockwell said with eyes popping in and out. "Leather Head, He serves as the brawn. Definitely the strongest guy I know, besides me of course." Slash said introducing Leather Head who waved at Lisa. "Then there's-"

"PIGEON PETE!" Pete yelled at the top of his lungs, startling Lisa again. "I'm the team's spy and the guy who saved you!…You know just in case you forgot." Pete said flying practically up to Lisa's face.

"Pffft, what!? You. Saved. Her" Slash said trying to hold in laughter. Pete looked at him with a sad look in his eyes. Leather Head nudged Slash on the shoulder and quietly growled at him. Making Slash nervously cough and look the other way.

"What Slash means is, How did you save her?" said Leather Head.

"OOOOH!" Pete said accepting Leather Head's white lie. "She told me that she was mutated by Doctor Slinkman she escaped and was being chased by Shredder's goonies! She spat acid at Rahzar's face, I headbutted Fish Face and got her to safety with one of the smoke bombs the turtles gave us!"

"Is this true Lisa?" Kurtzman asked her.

"Yeah, it's true, if it wasn't for him, I would probably be back at Shredder's lab…with him doing who knows what to me." Lisa said a she grabbed her arm, a chill running down her spine. Kurtzman put one his hands on her shoulders and crouched down to her level. "Listen, you don't have to tell us who you are…or rather who you used to be. I can only imagine how traumatic this must be for you but do know that I assembled this team of mutant heroes to protect people in your position, so if there's anything you need just ask us." Lisa was about to decline the man's kind offer so she could just go back to her run down home, but before she could say anything.

*GROWL* Lisa's stomach growled furiously as she clutched it with her hands. All of the excitement has completely distracted her from her crippling hunger. She looked up to see Kurtzman still kneeling down now with a smile on his face. Causing Lisa to blush slightly.

Lisa tried to explain. "I-"

"Say no more." Kurtzman interrupted. "We better get you some food!"

"I concur, Mr. Kurtzman" said Rockwell as he floated next to him and gracefully landed on the floor. "I didn't want to say anything earlier but I've noticed that the girl is considerably underweight. I think it's of the up most importance that we get her some nourishment."

"What do you say, girlie? You want some grub or what?" said Slash.

"No, I don't, I-I-I" at first Lisa tried to decline but she instead looked down and fell to her knees.

"I'M STARVING!" Lisa screamed as loud as she could. Kurtzman and the Mutanimals just smiled.

Kurtzman and The Mutanimals, making sure to keep out of sight, brought Lisa to a Japanese theme Restaurant in the outskirts of the city called The 24/7, Lisa never heard of this restaurant and that only increased her concerns.

"Whoa wait, what are you guys thinking!? We can't go into restaurants, not when were like this!" said Lisa.

"It's okay Lisa, The chef here knows us, he's a friend to all mutants, plus we only come here at certain hours so people don't see us" Leather Head calmly explained to her. With that the mutants and Kurtzman went into the restaurant to see a rotund Japanese man wearing black sunglasses, putting dishes away.

"Mr. Murakami!" Slash greeted him happily, getting the man's attention.

"Slash my friend! I trust the rest of the Mutanimals are here as well?" Murakami said looking in Slash's general direction. And yet it still seemed like he wasn't looking directly at him.

"Of course!" Slash Said. "Murakami my friend!" Leather Head greeted putting a hand around his back. "Oh, hello Leather Head, it's nice to see you to! Well, seeing is a loose term of course." Murakami said taking his glasses off to reveal his squinted eyes were a icy shade of blue and the whites of his eyes were much more bleached in white coloration.

"*Gasp* he's blind." Lisa whispered as quietly as she could so she doesn't offend.

"Ah, is that a new voice I hear!" Lisa nervously gasped knowing that he heard her.

"Mr. Murakami, this is Lisa. She's a friend that Pete successfully saved from the Foot." Kurtzman introduced her to him.

"So nice to meet you Lisa!" Murakami said putting his hand out to greet her but accidentally hitting Rockwell in the snout. "Ah!" Rockwell said covering his nose with his oversized hand. "Oops! sorry Rockwell." Murakami bowed in apology. Murakami went over to his desk to pick up a large knife with Kanji on the blade.

"I'm sure your all not here just to say hello, yes? What could I get you all to eat!" Murakami said happily holding his knife up.

"Just get us the usuals Murakami." Slash told the blind chef. "Lisa, what do you want?" Slash asked her as she sat down on the stool in front of the desk.

"Oh, I…"

*GROWL* "Uh…" Lisa groaned clutching her stomach. "I honestly don't care. I'll happily eat a rag soaked in French fry grease by this point." Murakami couldn't help but over hear her conversation with Slash.

"Excuse me, Lisa, but do you mind if I cook you a surprise dish? I think you'll love it!"

"Sure, like I said. I'm starving." Lisa said with a sad chuckle. With that Murakami went right to work. the ingredient cabinets all had bells that made different noises so he would know which ones he was opening, he dashed to the fridge and grabbed ingredients that he placed in sections that he would remember to grab them. He turned the stoves on to boil the pots of water and heated the oil in the fryers. Lisa was pleasantly shocked to see Murakami work at such profound speed and proficiency. He chopped the vegetables with impressive speed while managing to avoid hitting his fingers, he happily sang as he dipped shrimp into the fryers and the noodles in the boiling pot along with the other ingredients. Soon enough, Murakami had all of the Mutanimals meals ready and was happily serving them.

"All done! A bowl of Oyakodon for Slash, Tonkatsu for Leather Head, Ramen for Rockwell and…bread for Pete!" he said as he served every one of the members there food. Pete grabbing the circular, green bread from his hand.

"OOOOH GERMAN SODA BREAD!" Pete said excitedly. he placed the bread on the ground and started to peck at it furiously. Lisa sniffed the air with great gusto, her mouth was watering with her acidic saliva burning through the floor and her stomach growling even louder &amp; more painful from the succulent scents that filled the small shop. "And last but certainly not least for Lisa." Murakami said putting a tray of twelve pan fried dumplings in front of her.

"PIZZA GYOZA!" Murakami announced proudly with a collective "ooooh" from the Mutanimals.

Lisa was very intrigued by the name of the dish, she loved pizza but then again who didn't? and she was highly anticipating the fact that she was going to have it in dumpling form. Completely ignoring the chopsticks she grabbed one of the dumplings and threw it into her mouth, she chewed and she felt as if she was blessed by an angel, it was easily the most delicious thing she has ever tasted in her life, the cheese, spices and pepperoni filled her mouth as they escaped from it's fried, doughy prison. Finally Lisa swallowed as her pupils dilated into huge sparkling saucers that expanded across her eyes. The Mutanimals looked at her with concerned looks on there faces all except Pete who was still preoccupied with the bread he was given.

"Hey, uh…girlie are you-" But before Slash could finish his sentence, Lisa grabbed the entire tray and threw the rest of the dumplings into her mouth, she savagely chewed the Italian/Japanese hybrid dish thoroughly as her toothy maw quickly and excessively opened and closed. She desperately tried to keep the contents of her mouth in as she loudly moaned and savored the delicious taste. Soon her acidic saliva kicked in and dissolved the cheesy contents prompting her to finally swallow. She gave out a loud, satisfied burp and exhaled with contentment. She looked to her left to see Slash, Leather Head, Rockwell and Kurtzman with shocked looks on their faces and the mouths wide open. Pete, just finishing his bread was confused to why everyone was looking at her like that. Lisa's face was more red then green, she looked to see Murakami and led out a yelp when he saw Murakami's face covered in bits of Pizza Gyoza. The blind man just stood there and smiled.

"Well, it sounded and feels like someone enjoyed there Pizza Gyoza!" Murakami said causing Lisa to feel even more embarrassed.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry! I couldn't-" Lisa frantically tried to apologize.

"Hahaha, It's quite alright child!" Murakami reassured the mutant girl as he wiped the leftovers from his face. "I could tell that it's been quite some time since you've had a decent meal, and I'm the happiest man in the world knowing that I'm the reason for the first decent one you've had in a long time!" Murakami said with a wide smile.

"Yeah girlie, don't worry about it, we understand." Slash said. Lisa has never felt so touched in a long time. Not only has these people decided to protect her and treat her to a meal but they don't even go and judge her. Kurtzman tightened his tie and headed for the door.

"So, Lisa I suppose you want another order right?" Kurtzman asked. Lisa didn't say anything, instead she slowly spun her stool around and glared at him blankly.

"You ask that as if there's the possibility that I'll say no!" Lisa said blankly causing everyone in the room to laugh.

"I'm going to purchase those tickets from the machine. It's only fair that Murakami gets paid for our patronage." Kurtzman went out to the door to access the ticket vender.

Lisa sat tapping the chopsticks on the table. She looked to see Leather Head staring at her with his wide, toothy smile. Lisa stopped with a confused look on her face. "What?" Lisa questioned softly.

"Your were smiling." Leather Head replied. "You have a really nice smile, you should do it more often." Lisa forced a frown as she blushed wildly. She couldn't help but to feel embarrassed and even uncomfortable. These people, these mutants were treating her so nicely even though they just met they barely know anything about each other. They don't even know about her life as a human, a homeless, thieving human.

"Thanks, Leather Head." Lisa said with another smile.

"So, girlie We…well okay I was wondering, you seem like a great person and I think mutants should always stick together…like I think that even jerks like Tiger Claw can be brothers if they realize that. So I've been meaning to ask you…Would you like to join the Mighty Mutanimals?"

Lisa's mouth was opened and the entire room was silent even Murakami stopped washing his dishes to look out in the counter top area. There was a few short moments of silence. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Lisa felt she was out on the spot and she didn't know how to answer.

"I…" Lisa tried to reply.

***SLAM***

With out warning Kurtzman was thrown through the door and onto the floor . Causing everyone to gasp and Murakami jumping from the sudden noise.

"MR. KURTZMAN!" Slash yelled and went to his aid. He picked him up to see a black eye on his face.

"Oh my god, is he alright!?" Lisa said with great concern as she got up from her chair, the other Mutanimals followed suit.

"Don't be too sure about that freak!" the group looked at the door to see a gigantically fat man carrying a cane and wearing a pinstripe suit, black undershirt and red tie accompanying him were two thin, identical looking mobsters on either side of him.

"Don Vizioso!" growled Rockwell. He and the others looked absolutely furious. Lisa was horrified to see this man. She's heard of Don Vizioso, he is one of the world's most notorious mobsters. He has gotten the nicknames "Vizioso The Vicious' and Vizioso The Butcher" with a personally kill count of 40+ people and he was known to be the first mob boss to successfully gain control of the Italian mafias of both America and Sicily.

"Mighty Mutanimals." Don Vizioso replied in a uninterested tone. "I have no business with you monsters, kindly leave so I can have dinner in peace, I haven't eaten anything all day!"

"No business!?" replied an angry Leather Head. "We ARE your business! You made us our business when you attacked our friend!" Leather Head growled with great aggression as he approached Vizioso, he stopped when the two twin mobsters aimed there energy rifles at him. Don Vizioso yawned. He was extremely calm despite being faced to faced with a giant, ten foot tall mutant alligator.

"You, blind man. Make me some ramen and put it in the biggest bowl you have NOW!" demanded Vizioso.

"Yes, yes sir" Murakami complied but was stopped by Rockwell. "You don't have to make him anything Murakami. Not as long as were here!" Rockwell said defensively. Vizioso started to become angry with a scowl in his eyes. He reached for under his suit and took out a large, bloodied butcher knife with "Vizioso" printed in cursive on the side of the blade.

"I said…I haven't eaten. Anything. All. Day." Vizioso said in a angered tone, his bodyguards aiming at the group.

"So what!?" Slash said also starting to get angry with Kurtzman in his arms. "Lisa here probably hasn't eaten anything in months and she hasn't complained all night!" Lisa looked at Slash with wide eyes. "Oh my god Slash, don't bring me into this!" Lisa thought to herself. Vizioso looked over at the reptilian girl and cracked a smile that would haunt Lisa's dreams.

"So…You're the escaped Komodo Dragon mutant." said with a deep giggle. Causing Lisa to swallow hard.

"How, how did you know about…"

"I work for Shredder now, Your like FBI's most wanted right now, he thinks of you as a very important part of his uh…little project." Vizioso said not wanting to reveal Shredder's plans to the Mutanimals. "I bet Shredder will reward me handsomely if I bring you back!"

"You WON'T touch her!" Leather Head said, his anger only increasing.

"You don't scare me Jambalaya, nothing scares me after seeing the stuff that Shredder and his mad scientist does to people! I'm bringing this little toy back to Shredder and this time I'm gonna enjoy seeing her break!" just as Don Vizioso said that his knife was shot with a blob of green, chunky slime and started to melt it away from it's handle, all eyes were on Lisa, she was breathing heavy, her yellow eyes wide and angry and strains of her strong acidic saliva dripping out and dropping on the floor.

"You know what I hate most in the world?" Lisa said trying to hold back tears of anger. "People who use intimidation to get there way, people who prey on the weak and try to STOMP them out! I DESPISE people like you and the Shredder. Your all nothing but disgusting parasites. And I…must…squash you.

Don Vizioso was furious, he did not take threats lightly and he spent a lot of money on that custom knife.

"SHOOT HER!" Vizioso commanded his thugs, they complied and opened fire. Slash, on instinct got in front of her and blocked the shots with his shell. "MURAMAKI, GET DOWN!" Slash told the blind chef as he shielded Lisa. Which he gladly complied.

"RAAAAAAAH!" Leather Head yelled as he cupped his heads into a single fist and smacked both twins into the wall, causing them to become unconscious and drop there guns. Vizioso took out a non-laser based pistol from his pocket and pointed it at the giant reptile. However his gun was pulled out from his hand by Rockwell's telekinetic force, his pistol and the twin's energy rifles all levitated and was pointed at the obese mobster. Pete flew towards the unconscious twins and started pecking at one of their heads.

"Thanks Slash," Lisa thanked him, he returned her gratitude with a smile. Lisa looked back at Vizioso and glared at him. She got out walked towards him and in front of the three firearms. Prompting Rockwell to drop them. Lisa coughed up some saliva and spat on Vizioso shoes. The saliva burnt through the soles and caused Vizioso to grit his teeth in pain.

"Oops." Lisa said with a deadpanned tone.

"You…haven't seen the last of…me!" Vizioso spoke through his teeth. He turned around and closed the door behind him. Once out of the restaurant, the mobster screamed at the top of his lungs as he threw his burning shoes from his feet.

"Nice one." Leather Head said, now in a relaxed state. Lisa clutched her arm and smiled at him.

"GUYS! He's waking up!" Slash said getting everyone's attention. He didn't let go of Kurtzman since he was hit by Vizioso and his bodyguards. Everyone circled around him and Slash and watched as he opened his eyes.

"Mr. Kurtzman, are you okay?" Lisa said with concern for the old man.

"Heh, hey Lisa, are you still up for seconds?" Lisa couldn't help but laugh at the man's statement.

The team got back to the storage facility completely drained and tired from tonight's events. Slash helped Kurtzman walk back as he was still weak from the attack. Lisa, for the first time in a very long time. Felt full and even happy. She ate two servings of well deserved Pizza Gyoza. Seeing her stomach actually distended was the only positive highlight of the entire night. Everyone started to become comfy. Rockwell &amp; Pete got to there beds ready to sleep. And Kurtzman walked to his desk to have a seat.

"Are you sure you're okay Mr. Kurtzman?" Slash shared concern for the Journalist.

"Don't worry Slash, I'm the man who took a Kraang blast and lived remember, ugh…it'll take much more then some fat jerk and his punks to make me go down and stay down." Slash, despite his concerns showed Kurtzman a smile.

"Um…Mr. Kurtzman?" Lisa interrupted, nervously fiddling with her scaly hood.

"Lisa, what is it?" Kurtzman asked as he sat down and grabbed a tin of tobacco from his desk's drawer and filled a pipe with it.

"Earlier tonight, you know…at the restaurant? Slash asked me if I wanted to join your family/team and…the answer is yes I want to join!" Lisa said enthusiastically slamming her hands on his desk. Kurtzman and Slash looked at her with wide expressions, The other's looking from the sidelines.

"Well, who am I to decline the request of a lady? Welcome aboard Lisa!" Kurtzman happily said as he and Lisa shared a handshake. "We'll talk about the details of being a Mutanimal tomorrow. Tonight on the other hand…*yawn* I think we all deserve a night's rest."

"Leather Head, Will you please make a bed for Lisa, we don't want her sleeping on the floor or anything." Kurtzman said, lighting his pipe.

"Of course not, come with me sister." Leather Head led Lisa to a bunk bed which was previously never used by any of the other Mutanimals. Lisa walked up and sat on the lower bunk bed. She feeled around the bed until Leather Head came back with sheets and a ton of pillows. Which he laid on the bed for Lisa to sort the way she feels like. She stopped and exhaled in an annoyed tone. Lisa arched eyebrow and picked up a small teddy bear with a top hat and bow tie.

"Really?"

Leather Head giggled. "I just wanted to make sure that your comfortable."

"Thank you, Leather Head, you and everyone else have been so kind to me, I still don't know how to feel about…" Lisa trailed off.

"It's okay, you're a Mutanimal now and even if you didn't join us you would still be a sister to us. Especially to me and Slash."

"Thank you…again" Lisa said as she started to lay down

"Your welcome, again" Leather Head said as he left to crawl into his bed. A giant, opened container with blankets and pillows in it and photos of him and a turtle man. Which was about twenty feet away from Lisa's bunk bed and right below Pigeon Pete's birdcage.

An Hour has passed and Lisa just couldn't get to sleep. She tossed and turned, so much was on her mind she couldn't shut her mind off for one second. One day, just one day and her entire life has changed. a few hours earlier she was a homeless human girl, scavenging to survive until she was kidnapped and underwent painful mutation. The kidnapping and mutation surprisingly wasn't the thing that was keeping her up. It was the Mutanimals, the kindness that they gave her was overwhelming for her. She couldn't help but to cry again.

*sob* *sob *sob *sob* *sob* *sob*

"What's wrong?"

"AAAH-" Lisa caught her scream just in time preventing anyone else from waking up.

"Leather Head, you scared me!" Lisa whispered

"I'm sorry, but I heard you cry, I wanted to make sure you were okay…are you?" Leather Head asked her. Lisa pulled her blanket off and curled her legs up.

"I'm fine. Really I am, it's just besides the fact that I used to be human and was turned into a frea…I'm sorry, a mutant. It's just… you and the others have been so kind to me. Protecting me, giving me food and a bed. It sounds weird but, I-I-I don't know how to process that…"

"I understand." Leather Head nodded while Lisa looked at him intensely. "You have been neglected kindness and humanity for so long that the concept has became foreign to you." The moment Leather Head said that Lisa started to tear up again. He hit the mark exactly.

"Like Kurtzman said, you don't have to tell us how you lived as a human but do know this, we're family now, we were family the moment you have been mutated. So you can tell us anything and we'll listen." Leather Head and Lisa hugged for a solid minute. Once they unlinked their embrace Lisa got under the sheets again and Leather Head turned around to go back to his bed.

"Um, Leather Head!" Lisa spoke up causing him to turn around again.

"Do you think…um, just for one night, you could…" Before Lisa could finish her sentence Leather Head climbed into her bed and laid behind her. She nudged closer to him as Leather Head wrapped his arm around her in a reassuring embrace.

"What are brothers for?"


End file.
